Baby beds and adult beds have been provided in the past to enable a baby or an adult to sleep with his or her chest and face resting directly downwardly on supporting materials, which are provided with air passageways through which breathing continues without suffocation.
In 1893 William Staab in his U.S. Pat. No. 504,443 illustrated and described his mattress which essentially was a complete bed specifically provided, in selected sizes, to provide for the drying of clothes of small children or sick persons, when their garments and possibly bed clothes become wet. By such drying, the annoyance and liability to possible chafing, or worse results, was removed. All the supporting materials which comprised his mattress were necessarily permeable. Mr. Staab was primarily concerned with draining liquids, but in doing so he provided throughout his so-called mattress, passageways for air.
In 1954, Francis C. Holton, in his U.S. Pat. No. 2,695,415, disclosed his mattress to be used particularly for infants. Mr. Holton realized that generally infants were placed on a conventional mattress which was or was not covered with an impervious material. In any case this covered mattress was further covered with a sheet and the infant was laid upon the sheet without a pillow. He then said "In most cases the infant's head becomes very warm as the head indents the mattress, whereas there is always some danger of smothering, when the infant may roll over and lie on its stomach. Furthermore, it is difficult to maintain the bed in a really sanitary condition, as an infant often tends to expel its food, with the result that the sheet must be changed, and the mattress washed, which presents substantial difficulty with conventional mattresses."
Mr. Holton therefore designed his mattress to include "a cushion-like body supporting section, and a relatively thin porous head supporting section, co-extensive therewith, with means for supporting the latter substantially in the plane of the upper surface of the body supporting section, and providing therebelow an air space."
Mr. Holton continued his description saying "Preferably, the head supporting section takes the form of a skeleton frame-work connected to the cushion-like body section of the mattress, and is designed to receive thereover a slip cover of thin porous material, such as muslin or the like, the intermediate portion of which, suspended between elements of the frame-work, forms the support for the head and/or upper portion of the torso."
Mr. Holton also said, "Preferably, also, the frame work provides an apron therebelow in vertical spaced relation to the head supporting section, the custom-like body supporting section of the mattress, and the apron being formed of an impervious washable material."
Mr. Holton said further, "that if the infant were to roll over on to its stomach so that its face was in direct contact with the head supporting element, the infant would be able to breathe reasonably through the porous covering, which would eliminate possibility of smothering, as in the case of a conventional mattress."
Moreover, Mr. Holton said expelled food and/or saliva, milk from a leaking bottle, or any other liquid will pass through the porous head support, avoiding unsanitary conditions, and the possibility of smothering of the child.
In 1957, Herman P. Austen, in his U.S. Pat. No. 2,807,033, illustrated and described his mattress having "openings of suitable size and shape to partially receive the face of a person lying on the mattress, while at the same time permitting the support on the person's head in a comfortable position." The openings were connected by horizontal transverse air channels. The person's face was supported so his or her nose and mouth extended into an opening, without coming into contact with the mattress. A person lying face down on Mr. Austen's mattress was assured of fresh circulating air for breathing purposes. When so lying down, he said, a person's throat and nasal tissues assume natural positions permitting easy breathing, thereby tending to eliminate snoring. He also said, it is well known that the digestive organs, and the heart function better, when one is lying on his or her stomach in a comfortable downwardly facing position, wherein breathing is not restricted or otherwise affected by a lack of fresh air. Although Mr. Austen indicated all of these advantages of the use of his mattress, he was apparently not concerned with the resting of an infant, but only with the sleeping of a grown person, who would be able to locate these limited mattress openings for intentionally positioning his or her face.
In 1964, Anthony P. Roman, in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,135,974, illustrated and described his "face rest mattress" for persons who prefer to sleep in a prone or face down position to relieve certain abnormal strains and tensions of the body particularly in the neck and back. Mr. Roman also said his type of "face rest mattress" would be helpful in respect to infants. He said, "In addition, there have been many cases of infants requiring special prone positions for sleeping, but this is a situation fraught with danger, as the infant may spit up food and have difficulty in breathing. In cases like this, suffocation is an ever-present danger." Therefore the primary object of his invention was to provide a mattress for face down or prone sleeping wherein means was provided to allow free and normal breathing. At the head end of Mr Roman's "face rest mattress" he provided "a plurality of indentations or corrugations for air circulation, such as slots or grooves, spaced across the mattress and extending from the head of the mattress in the direction of the foot, to a distance equal to about 0.1 to 0.33 times the length of the mattress. Ordinarily the indentations varied from about 0.5 to 2.0 feet in length."
Mr. Roman also said, "If desired, the head end of the mattress containing the indentations may form an angle, such as from about 1 to thirty degrees, with the main body of the mattress, thereby enabling the head of the sleeper to be elevated with respect to his feet."
In 1967, George E. Ormerod, in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,339,216, disclosed his "mattresses" which were made so if a child's or an invalid's face should "become pressed against the portion of the mattress for supporting the head, the risk of suffocation is greatly reduced." Mr. Ormerod's mattress comprises a "resilient pad of plastic material, having a series of perforations constituting air holes, extending only between the top and bottom surfaces of the pad at that part of the pad intended to support the head of the user." The remainder of the pad was imperforate. An air permeable sleeve, open at one end, was placed over the head-supporting part of the pad. An impermeable elastomeric sleeve, open at one end, was placed over the remaining part of the pad.
In 1985, Messrs. Varndell and Lawson, in their U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,906, illustrated and described their "mattress with apertured insert", for small children. Their mattress had "a removable foam insert", which fits "in an aperture cut in the head portion of a foam mattress body." The insert had a plurality of perforations extending from its top face to its bottom face", which reduced "the risk of suffocation". The perforations were "grouped towards the head of the mattress for optimum positioning beneath a child's head. When a child's head was positioned over the insert, and if the child buried its face in the mattress, then the passage of air through the insert reduced the danger of suffocation.
These prior inventions are all recognized for their merit. However, there remains a need for an infant's crib to receive an infant from the time of his or her birth and up to six months of his or her age, to combat any possibility of sudden infant death syndrome, commonly referred to as sids. Such a crib will insure that an infant will always have breathing air providing him or her with ample oxygen, wherever the infant may be located in the infant's crib.